Bunk d season 2 episode 16

I'm just looking for advice on where to take this and if it's even good. I don't know what direction to head in after this. Should it be fantasy or more reality like? I started writing this probably about a year ago, I really like the idea that's going on, but I don't know where to go from here. As you can probably tell from my writing, I'm a huge amateur, so it would be great if you could read it and give feedback and tips. It's going to be a bit messy because I haven't reread it much, but it's right below here.
Chapter 1
It’s the same as any other day, I live a pretty basic life, in fact, scarily basic. I’m a normal 16-year-old high school student. I slave away at my schoolwork and then come home and play video games. Just rinse and repeat all of that and that’s my life at the moment. I’m currently just staring at my ceiling right now trying to force myself to go to sleep, because I know I'll hate myself tomorrow for not getting any. I guess that’s the downside of staying up all night and sleeping all day on the weekend. I turn around and force my eyes shut trying to drift away. After what felt like hours of just laying there, I finally fell asleep.
I wake up and realize I’m late for school. I get up, put my clothes on and run out the door, sprinting towards my school. It’s pretty handy when your school is only a 15-minute jog. As I'm running I realize how quiet it is. I stand there with the void of sound only illuminated by my ragged breath. I start looking around till I see something strange. A gummy bear, just over a foot tall, and it looks like it’s staring at me. As I'm walking towards it I see it start animating as it shifts towards me. I look at the abnormally large gummy bear and crouch down next to it. As I look at it, it responds by looking at me with cute sparkling eyes. I reach my hand to pet it and all of a sudden there is a sharp burning pain going throughout my entire body. As I stare at the gummy bear I see its cute eyes replaced with eyes that look drowned is blood, and razor sharp teeth holding something. As I try to focus my eyes with the burning pain I see what looks like a finger. I finally look down towards the source of the pain and see a hand covered in a sea of crimson red with 4 fingers. I take a step back and then realize I'm surrounded by the same bloodshot eyes gummy bears baring their teeth at me. As I try to process what's happening, suddenly the same yellow gummy bear dyed in my blood leaps towards my leg, my reaction causes it to go flying with a kick with all my strength which shakes off in an instant. Suddenly like a hallucination coming undone my vision flickers as it reveals corpses sprayed across the ground like crumbs, and the gummy bears reveal their true appearance. A swamp green creature with fur covering its back like a hedgehog and the same razer teeth and blood filled eyes. As the creatures start closing in on me, I and everything around me, is now covered by a shadow that looms over as far as I can see. I look towards where the sun was and see nothing but a deep black surface…. Or is it even a surface? I can't tell what it is but what I know for a fact are those familiar blood filled eyes stared into my very soul….. No, my very being of existence, everything I've ever known or loved was being peeped at by this…. thing. I stood there with a single tear stretching across my face as I accepted my fate.
Chapter 2
Is this the 100th time? No, it may be well over the triple digits, at least that's what it felt like. I lost count an eternity ago. It looks like every time I die I restart the day in my bed, with the time always the same on my alarm clock. I've tried almost everything I can think of. I've tried knives, guns, bats but they've all produced the same result, dying. Hell, I've even tried to stay in my room but one thing that never changed is the feeling of being watched. I realized that I'm under something like a hallucination that makes me unable to truly see what things are like. It seems something like an ability that the creatures I've called gremlins (I’ve neither the creativity nor the energy to be unique right now) use to give their prey a sense of safety, although in the 5 senses it seems it can only change sight. It also seems that they can only change it to an extent, for example, they can't seem to reanimate organisms, although that might be because they can't reproduce their speech. But I do know that they can't make themselves just disappear, and it seems their go-to form is a gummy bear. I've done extensive research on them and here is where I'm at.
Their biggest weakness I found so far seems to be blunt weapons. I don't know the reason as I can't exactly dissect them, but it seems that knives and guns don't work nearly as well. Part of the reason that I do know it is that the gremlins have an extremely fast regeneration rate in which they can heal gunshot wounds in only 15 seconds. I think blunt weapons work because they crush their internal organs if you swing hard enough. It seems like their durability to attacks is surprisingly low, maybe because they've evolved without needing a lot of durability because of their regen. I think that swords would work well if you just cut them in half, or at least almost in half. I've no way to test that as I have no way to get close enough to them with my knife without losing some fingers. But by far the most important thing I've found out is how to get out of the illusion. It seems if i focus some type of energy into your eyes the illusion becomes undone. I can do it right now without the need of outside sources, but it is a lot easier with pain. But even after all those retries and all that research one thing, I still know nothing about is that thing in the sky. I still don't even know how to describe its irregular body color, because when I look at it, it just looks like nothing. I feel as if for the first time I've seen nothing. Not the surrounding air, no that has tiny little gas particles everywhere. But when I look at its body it reflects no light, I can't seem to focus on its body, and it doesn't even have any sense of the depth of it. It looks like it tore a section of reality itself and its peering into my world in a state of nothing. Although one thing I am sure about is its eyes. What seems like a hundred feet in circumference all it does is watch, it hasn't made any movements as I've been killed or killed the gremlins it just stays put staring at me, like I’m a source of entertainment. But besides my research, I'm currently in my kitchen looking for something to use to try and kill the gremlins. As I'm looking for something I smell something I've become quite acquainted with over the past hundreds of restarts.
Blood.
As I look around, I realize I'm still in the hallucination state and can't see what's happening, so I look around the kitchen to try and find something to get me out of it. I consider chopping off a finger, but I know I'm not brave enough for that yet. I then see a lemon and decide to try that out. I slice open the lemon and squeeze the juice into both my eyes. I clench my eyelids down as the burning sensation bounces around in my eyes. After about 30 seconds I open my eyes and look around and I finally see what I've avoided finding this entire time, my mom. As I stare at the soulless corpse, I see what's left of my mom. It seems like the gremlins bit almost completely through her throat and completely ate her arm. I fall to my knees and tears start running down my face. All the emotions I've been holding back set in, the loneliness, the sadness, the anger, the hopelessness, all finally break out of the cage I've locked them in and are taking control of my thoughts.
“Mom….”
My voice comes out coarsely, barely audible.
I break down. My sobs echoing throughout the empty house. My head caked in her blood as I rested it on her chest. After ten minutes I lay there, out of tears. I've realized, This isn't some fun game where I get to defeat some enemies or some comic where I get a cool superpower and defeat an evil villain. No this is real life. And even if I defeated all the gremlins, there's still that thing in the sky. And even if theoretically I defeat that, there's nothing left, no friends, no family. Soon enough the power plants will shut down, I'll run out of electricity, water, everything. Assuming there are any survivors besides me I don't know where they are, and with that, there's no way to even carry on humanity. And if I live my life until let's say I'm 70 and best-case scenario there's another human who's a girl, who becomes my wife and we become the new Adam and Eve. I’ll still die eventually and when that happens, I'll restart. This isn't some fun cool superpower, no this is a curse, I've been cursed with this by something, and it has seemingly no end. I pick up the knife lying beside me and hold it against my throat. I realize there's no point in that and just drop it. I get up and walk outside, with tons of those gremlins outside my door they start leaping towards me, gnawing my skin and bones until there's nothing left, before my eyes give out, I still see in the sky, that eye staring at me. As I fall and close my eyes. I subconsciously let out a smile. After all this time the only thing that proves my existence, the only thing I've come to have as a friend is pain. And as my friend sores throughout my body, I can't help but laugh. A laugh comes out of my blood-filled throat, a laugh I could only think of coming from a psychopath. That laugh rings throughout my head as everything goes black. A familiar feeling. Death.
Chapter 3
I open my eyes once again staring at my pale ceiling, everything's the same. I figure there’s no point in trying right now. I could lie here for however many lives I wanted. Nothing would change. I close my eyes again trying to shut myself off from the world. After a while of lying there, I heard something coming up the stairs. It’s a bit early but the gremlins have come again. Although it was strange. I only heard one pair of footsteps coming up. Maybe for some reason, it hasn't told its friends it found me. And then something even weirder happened, the door opened, and on the other side of the doorway was something that looked exactly like my mom.
“Shane! What are you still doing in bed? School started over an hour ago!”
Shane… Shane…
My Mom used to call me that. Everyone used to call me that.
“What's wrong?”
It started speaking. The figure that looked like my mom has started speaking and it knows my name.
“Mom, is that you?”
I said with tears streaming down my face. My Mom, with a worried look plastered on her face, asked me.
“Of course, it’s me, what's wrong? Did something happen?”
“Just a nightmare “
I said with my face moist with tears. Although I know, that was no nightmare. Nightmares are dreams that never last that long. I felt it, I felt everything going on. Especially the pain, that pain was the most real thing I've ever experienced.
“Well just because you had a nightmare doesn’t mean you get to skip out on school.”
She sighed with a frown on her face.
School…. I forgot that it even existed.
“Alright Mom, just let me get ready and I’ll be down in 5.”
“Okay Shane, breakfast will be ready downstairs.”
My Mom left me alone and I sat there in disbelief.
Is this real, am I in another dream? Is this a dream and the other world is reality?
Well, thinking won't solve anything but I'm glad I'm out of that hellhole, even if it's temporarily. I quickly get ready and put on my backpack. My Mom made me some eggs on toast, and I headed out the door. It feels great, I heard the birds chirping, and my neighbor mowing his lawn. And no smell of blood. But one thing hasn't changed. Someone is watching me. I look in the sky, but a blanket of blue covers the vast plain. I shake it off, I’m probably still paranoid from the dream. I take a deep breath and continue on my way.
After around 30 minutes walking i finally arrive at school
Why didn’t I just take my bike?
I sigh and open the front doors to the school. I walked into the front office and as my pass was printing the office lady started speaking.
“There are 20 minutes left of the first block, so I’d hurry up.”
“Alright, thanks Mrs. Garcia”
“Anytime, now hurry up.”
That’s Mrs. Garcia. She lives near me, and I frequently do Jobs for her like Pet sitting and lawn mowing. She's kinda like a grandma I've never had.
I arrive at class and knock on the door. My classmate lets me in and as I walk towards my desk and see a familiar face frowning at me.
“Where have you been? You haven’t been responding to my texts, I was worried.”
I smile and look at her face. I still don’t know how I managed to get a girlfriend as beautiful as Katie, even after these past months of dating. I’m definitely glad I built up the courage to ask her out.
“Yeah sorry, I overslept and kind of forgot to check my phone.”
Katie makes a bitter face then sighs.
“I’ll forgive you now, but don't let it happen again.”
“Yes ma’am”
I sit down next to her and try to pay as much attention as I can, but my mind always ends up wavering from the subject. Before I know it I’m either on my phone or trying to talk to Katie, which she interrupts with a stare and shushes me. Finally, what feels like hours later I’m out of the block. I pick up my bag and say my goodbyes, then I trial off to second block. As I’m walking, I just can't take my mind off what happened. I can’t figure out whether it's a dream or reality, it’s almost as if I was trapped inside some kind of simulation for years, or even decades. I also don't know whether I should tell Katie or not or even any of my other frie-
My thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking into my shoulder. I look at the perpetrator to see who it is and my mind is relieved.
“Shane! What was that for? Trying to knock me over?”
I look at my friend and scoff, me and Jake and I have been friends since middle school, sometimes he’s a bit too much for me but he's a good person. He has a similar build to me but instead he has blonde hair and blue eyes in contrast to my brown hair and amber eyes. We’re also racing to see who will reach 6 feet first, we’re currently tied at around 5 '11.

So, October 14th 2022 I walked away from drinking. I am the proud owner of not 1 but 2 DUII’s (probably deserve 50 DUIIs), a brief stay in county jail, countless brutal screaming matches with my husband, I’ve thrown and broken things, and done lots of damage to my relationships. My husband is also an alcoholic and quit the same time.
Just turned 36. I’m a high functioning alcoholic. I own my own business I founded back in 2017. Partied the whole way up. It’s funny how as long as you’re working and making good money how people act like you don’t have a problem. The whole corporate, real estate, financial industries absolutely bask in celebrating functional alcoholism. Corporate retreat? DRINKS! Promotion? DRINKS! Closed a huge deal? Signed a new client? Established a new business partnership…? DRRRRRIIIIIINNNKKKKKSSS! Lol. Drinking is always the answer.
I learned how to drink rubbing elbows with my higher ups. When I got my first DUII ten years ago my former mentor said “who cares, welcome to the club”. This from a man who used to run Marriott.
Anyway, regardless. Alcohol is my demon. It nearly dismantled my marriage. In fact I’m still walking through an extremely difficult part of my marriage because of something awful that happened while my husband and I were at our lowest. Not on my end but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t play a part. And it’s been part of the catalyst that ended mine and my husbands drinking career. So in a way I’m grateful.
We drank a LOT. 5 nights a week at least. Sometimes starting at 1 or 2. Sometimes even earlier and finishing by 5… passing out. I drank heavily for 7 years. I was a beer woman. IPAs like a stereotypical Oregon hipster. Then I moved onto whiskey for a season. Always Jameson. Then that got too syrupy to me so I finished with grey goose. Sometimes I’d mix grey goose with white claw. Road sodas and that.
Got used to living in a permanent state of either hungover or inebriation. Only taking breaks when I was so bloated drinking didn’t sound good. So I HAD to take a break. I thought it was normal to sleep like shit. Maybe copping 4-5 hours a night. No REM sleep ever. Sex with my husband was sloppy drunk BS. Often I’d end up puking. Hanging my head in my toilet like “yep…this is normal, just gotta puke so I can rally”. Pass out. Wake up gagging. Coughing and gagging while I choked down the first 4 cigarettes. Just so I could repeat it all again. I’ve gained 100 lbs too. Eating like shit and drinking too much. Skipping meals so I didn’t ruin my buzz just so I could ferociously yogi bear my kitchen at 3am looking for ramen. I can’t believe how long I lived like that.
LOL, and the ANXIETY. Through the roof. Could hardly go grocery shopping without a buzz unless it was 6am. I was convinced I had agoraphobia. And extreme anxiety. Nah. Turns out when you’re in active addiction and HEAVY denial you just miss that you’re not really mentally ill. You’re just a junkie for booze. Which I was. That and gambling and cigarettes. Those three were my gods.
Anyway. Flash forward to December last year. I had already quit drinking in October but I’m December I got RSV and it turned into pneumonia. So on December 7th I peaced out cigarettes for good.
Started working out in January. Every day.
Now I sleep 8-9.5 hours a night. Sometimes I don’t even wake up to go to the bathroom. Just glorious on my belly mouth open fan on comfortable EPIC snooze fests every night. I take vitamins every day. I mediate. I sit sauna. I read. I paint. I play music. My brain is awake. I’m back. The woman I thought died long ago, she’s in there. My thirst for adventure is insatiable. I’ve lost 30 lbs so far too.
I used to go backpacking and hiking a lot. I used to love to be in the forest. I fought fires structural and wildland. I never thought I’d hike again because I’d gained so much weight and I smoked so much I couldn’t breathe. I’m hiking 5 miles almost every day. When I can’t I jump on my treadmill. I’m feasting on life. I used to feast on slow suicide.
Finally bucked up and went to the doctor this month. The pain in my side came back. The pain I convinced myself was pancreatic cancer and liver failure…. And definitely liver cancer all at the same time. It was back and it made no sense because I quit drinking already. I should be healed. So I said “fuck it” and made my appt. Got an all my blood work done. Got a pap (cause you know I also was certain I had cervical cancer bc I was a heavy smoker). Got an ultra sound and x rays on my side.
My liver enzymes are normal. My blood work is flawless. My side hurts because I have a gallbladder polyp that is exacerbated by fatty foods. My cholesterol is good. Blood pressure is good. My pap and all that was good.
I remember drinking thinking fuck it, I’ve probably already done all the damage. I haven’t. It’s worth quitting and living. Not thinking like that anymore. Now I am caring for my body! Now I am getting healthy and coming back to life. I’m not suffering from anxiety anymore. My body is healing and every day I get stronger. My marriage. God. My marriage is growing in ways I never imagined. I’m falling in love with a man I am just getting to know.
It’s been a crazy ride. I’m almost to six months. Please hang in there!!!! I love you!

Can I just say every single episode has hit me right in the feels. Season 1 & 2 of Picard were great but this, THIS SEASON! Has given me all the feels. It feels so good to be a life long Trekkie and see TNG characters in todays time. I love it!

I’ve done a little research, for episode count, voice actors, etc. and am almost finished with the first story arc, but it hasn’t appealed to me. I knew of the art redesign beforehand, but I still don’t like it. I didn’t recognize Psyphon until Ben said his name, Animo looks odd, Ben looks younger (and didn’t have his iconic jacket, which is bothersome and a character change), Grandpa Max has no eyes (I know the redesign was an homage to Golden Age Captain Marvel/Shazam, but just in universe, he looks creepy), and every time he tells Rook don’t help, two seconds later, he wants help. It would be more fitting if it began with the old design, then omniverse occurs where story takes place on a different Earth with a different Ben like a multiverse, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, there are random flashbacks to him as an eleven year old (assuming from the five years later in first episode) without any explanation why nor is there a season just filling in gap from 11-16 or having the 16 year old and 11 year old meet again.Also, Kevin looks like a villain with the redesign and not like he looked. The theme isn’t catchy like the OS and an instrumental seems better. There are other aspects that i can’t put my finger on yet that leave a sour taste in my mouth, but I really miss the AF/UA style, contrary to most opinion (although they did Four-Arms bad then). With that, what did you like about the show and when did it get good for you?

This is not an attempt at discrediting the actors or performance necessarily, and will, in fact, possibly be helpful for their future episodes. Q: what is(are) your least favorite/2 least favorite episode in the series so far?
Personally my least favorite was episode 24, when Matt clearly projects his own personal feelings onto Darryl and refuses to work with the group right before entering the pyramid for the first time. To be clear, this episode has some of my all time favorite moments, even in the intro and outro, and even at their worst is such an incredible podcast. The second worst would probably half to be the last one, season 2, episode 30, and I hate to say because Matt needs to meta game so hard and keep control that it’s not as fun, and the whole party dynamic is just raucous in a less-fun way. But again, that episode was full of fantastic humor and was not a bad episode.
Do we think this might help them narrow down what direction(s) they might pursue in the future?

Episode 42 of Sister Act 40k is live!
u/MitchBeard and Rob were gracious enough to ask me back on the podcast to talk about my latest obsession, Valourous Heart. We talk about the VH lists that Mitch and I have been cooking up, as well as Mitch's run to 3rd place at the recent International Team Tournament supermajor with this new off meta beauty. Enjoy!
https://40ksisters.libsyn.com/teamwork-makes-the-dream-work
Shortly after this podcast was recorded I took my VH list to a local GT and placed 2nd, losing only to the eventual winners Dark Angels on the Scouring!
Army name: VH Central Island Open Factions used: Imperium - Agents of the Imperium, Imperium - Adepta Sororitas Command Points: 6-1-1-1-1=2 Total cost: 2000 pts, 102 PL Reinforcement Points: none pts
Number of Units: 16 Assassination: 25 points Bring it Down: 4 points No Prisoners: 6 points Abhor the Witch: 0 points ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
== Order: Valorous Heart Arks of Omen == 0 CP, 1990 pts, 101 PL
Acolyte (Hot-Shot Lasgun, Needle Pistol), Ordo Xenos [10 pts, 1 PL]
Celestine and Geminae Superia [200 pts, 10 PL] Ephrael Stern and Kyganil of the Bloody Tears [120 pts, 6 PL]
Morvenn Vahl: Warlord Trait: Righteous Rage [280 pts, 14 PL, -1 CP]
HQ4: Palatine: Bolt pistol, Relic: Casket of Penance, Blessing: The Emperor's Grace, Warlord Trait: Beacon of Faith [65 pts, 4 PL, -2 CP]
10x Celestian Sacresant w/ Anointed Halberd [140 pts, 8 PL]
10x Celestian Sacresant w/ Anointed Halberd [140 pts, 8 PL]
10x Celestian Sacresant w/ Anointed Halberd [140 pts, 8 PL]
2xCrusaders [22 pts, 1 PL]
Dogmata: 2. Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude, Relic: Litanies of Faith, War Hymn [65 pts, 4 PL, -1 CP]
Hospitaller [50 pts, 3 PL]
3xParagon (2 Storm Bolters, Multi-melta, Paragon War Blade) [240 pts, 11 PL]
Dominion Superior (Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Chainsword), 4xDominion w/ Artificer-crafted storm bolter [90 pts, 5 PL]
5xRetributor, Retributor Superior (Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Chainsword), 4xRetributor w/ Multi-melta, 2xArmourium Cherub, [220 pts, 9 PL]
4xRetributor, Retributor Superior (Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Chainsword), 4xRetributor w/ Multi-melta, 2xArmourium Cherub, [208 pts, 9 PL]
== Agents of the Imperium Auxiliary Support Detachment == 0 CP, 10 pts, 1 PL
Acolyte (Hot-Shot Lasgun, Needle Pistol), Ordo Xenos [10 pts, 1 PL]
Had a lot of fun, both at the event and on the podcast! If anyone is looking for ways to play sisters in the current murderous Arks of Omen meta, consider giving Valourous Heart a chance!

6 days ago, I made this post making predictions of how the show would go from then on, this is an update. This one is more of a reaction to some of my previous predictions than a new set of predictions, though I will include some. The post is titled this way mostly so people can recognize it's me if they liked the first one. This post is really long, and the last 2/3 of it are just my general thoughts on the show, so read as much as you want. I've just finished S4 Ep5.
So, about those predictions I made...
HOLY SHIT!
Time travel! Fucking knew it! So that's why everyone was reacting like that. When we first had the bit of Desmond having his flash where he's briefly in the past and he sees Charlie and shit, I was like, "does this count?" But I didn't post then because I figured it'd get explored more and people would struggle to not give me spoilers. Well, it's been explored a bit more and it definitely counts. Also, I've just realized as I'm writing this that Hurley says the sky went purple when Desmond turned the key, and that's just like that guy's purple light that he used on Eloise, right? That light put Eloise's consciousness in the future, so it shouldn't just be affecting Desmond, right? It should be everyone on the island. Maybe it is, I dunno.
Charlie
Got this one too. I saw this death coming, but god, I really didn't see how heartbreaking it would be. I don't mean this in a macho way, but I really don't cry pretty much ever, and while I didn't cry, this had me really welling up. This show very frequently has episodes that are dedicated solely to one character, but man, "Greatest Hits" does it so beautifully and emotionally. One of the better episodes I've seen so far.
Eko
I got this one wrong, and in hindsight, it's kinda an odd choice as a lock to be alive in the finale. I honestly don't have much reaction to his death or his character in general. I will say that because he was literally picked up and beaten to death by the island, one, I feel more confident in my guess that the "fog monster" is some entity that's connected to the island, and, two, the island needs Eko to not be alive for some reason. Locke is talking all about shit that "needs to happen" so I'm thinking that somehow there's a thing that the island needs to happen that all of the characters are destined to follow through with. Also that this "thing" needs to happen in a very specific way, I note that even Jack comes to realize this in a flash forward with that really fake looking beard. I guess all this means that the fog monster is kind of literally the island, we combine this with my idea that Jack's "hallucinations" of his dad and everyone's "hallucinations" of Walt, Locke's in particular, are that fog monster entity, and we come back to my idea that the island itself really wants something to happen one particular way. I don't know what this is at all, however.
Jack
I got this one wrong. And, I know you're thinking that Jack hasn't died yet, and he hasn't, but I've been spoiled that he dies in season 6. It came to me in a very strange way so I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly certain it's true. Regardless, I don't know how it happens at all. This doesn't really surprise me, I said in the first post that I could see him living or dying based on the fact that he's kinda the protagonist and that remains true.
Locke
I haven't gotten this one right or wrong yet, but something about this island makes him immortal so I imagine I'm right. He definitely still could die, but I'm going to place more confidence in my initial pick for him to live.
Someone doesn't "press the button"
I was right that this would happen but missed but happens when the button goes unpressed. I did say that "it could also have a huge effect on the rest of the show, whatever happens, like something irreversibly changes," which, if this did introduce the whole time travel element, then I'm kind right there. Although, in semantics, you could say that it was Desmond turning the key that made that happen, I dunno. Also have to note here how much I fucking love the hieroglyphs showing up on the timer. It's so creepy and mysterious it really stands out to me. Also, does that mean that they could have physically gone up to the timer and flicked through the panels to see those hieroglyphs earlier? That's interesting. Also gonna note that I'm pretty sure we see that the timer has multiple panels with hieroglyphs on them, so that must mean that there was a specific reason that it was those particular hieroglyphs. Were those real hieroglyphs? If they are then that means that they could be read. Okay, I've looked it up and it says that they say "underworld." So is there gonna be demon shit? If this series ends by revealing that they're really in hell and they died in the crash, I can honestly see why that would be so divisive. I make this theory because of the whole element of apparently everyone having already died in the crash, bodies and all? The pieces are there and that really worries me because that would be a tacky ending.
Aaron
I made a sidenote in my guesses for how the show ends that maybe it involves Aaron somehow. I never placed much confidence in this, and I still don't, but with the strange reveal that Kate is taking care of Aaron after they're all off the island, it seems more possible now...? I only say this because something mysterious involving Aaron could mean something supernatural about Aaron, though I doubt it.
That's all for my previous predictions, now for some other miscellaneous things to talk about.
What hints do the spoilers I've picked up give?
I've unfortunately picked up 2 spoilers recently, but neither of them are crazy huge, so don't worry. I know one of them is literally the death of the semi-protagonist as I told earlier but learning that doesn't really bum me out much. It's more the mysteries that I want to avoid spoiling. The other spoiler I've gained is one I've seen bits and pieces of from various places, one of them actually being an unrelated AskReddit thread. It's that somehow, everyone dies, but it's always been presented to me as a technicality which is really odd. That makes me think that they're all resurrected somehow. I put these two spoilers together and I come to the realization that for Jack's death to be notable, everyone doesn't die at once, or they're all resurrected. Or both. Or maybe were moved to the past before they died, since time travel is on the table now. I don't know, it's tough to interpret really vague spoilers I've gotten and use them as clues, but I'll do it nonetheless. If you're worried that I'm impacting my viewing experience by using spoilers as clues and trying to create more spoilers out of them, I'd do it regardless. There's no way to stop me from thinking about them. I would if I could, but I might as well just embrace the spoilers since I can't.
If you want the shorter version of this post, end here. The predictions are over and the rest is scatterbrain thoughts about the show as a whole.
What do I think about the show in general?
It's great! I think season 1 is pretty much perfect, and season 2 is a great follow up. Season 3 to me had a really hot start with a few middling episodes and a great closing. Season 4 started off extremely slow but is picking up the pace right now. Season 3 had some really good drama. Ben is just such a great cunning antagonist and this whole mind battle between him and Jack with the surgery is so fun to watch. The whole mystery of like "what the fuck is this place" and "what the fuck is going on" is just too good. Kate and Sawyer's relationship is really cute but is also kinda... I dunno but it's kinda something. I don't know how to feel about it sometimes. Like, I can see there being an argument that Sawyer is genuinely really creepy towards Kate, but it gets justified later when they semi confess love and have monkey cage sex. Although it's in character for Sawyer and you can tell Kate kinda hates herself for loving him, especially because she goes out of her way to avoid saying those three words. I should probably respect the show for taking a more complicated route with the relationships than having Sawyer suddenly become some hyper-respectful gentleman and giving them a wishy-washy relationship, or just having her end up with Jack and having that same kind of wishy-washy relationship.
On different note, I feel that the community aspect and theorizing you would get in 2004 and on must have really enhanced the experience of watching the show, but on the same note, I think this show is really enhanced by being binged, too. "Exposé" to me is a really good example of why. If this was your one episode for the week, I could understand being kinda pissed that this episode focuses entirely on two uninteresting characters and doesn't move anything forward. It'd just leave a much worse stain as the one episode a week than one of the many episodes I'll watch in a day. From my perspective, I liked it. I don't really find whatshisface and whatsherface to be interesting characters, but I find it interesting as a pseudo Twilight Zone episode. The ending scared the absolute shit out of me, especially because of the music. I find it to be a good time, if a very odd anthological horror story in the middle of what is the most serialized and involved part of the series to that point.
Sidenote on me being spoiled
I can't lie that, while no one intentionally spoiled anything for me on the last post, the comments and my replies definitely furthered my knowledge of the show quite a bit. And, one person actually did intentionally spoil something to me... Regardless, I don't mind it, and some people said that I was allowing them to re-live their first watch a bit, so I see it as an even and worthwhile trade. The point is, don't worry about me being spoiled or anything, but also don't spoil me. And, given the nature of this show, I'm sure it'd be difficult to even spoil the end of this show in one sentence, so even the spoilers I get are vague. Even something as definite as Jack dying like I learned earlier, became vague through a different spoiler I got.
Superlatives
I'm not done with the show but I'll do this to see how my thoughts change.
Best season:
It's tough, but right now it's season 1 just for the consistency. It's really weird to think how much this season gets done. Remember when the biggest mystery was, "who was in the handcuffs?" or "someone left a message for 16 years, gadzooks! What's up with that?" I imagine that'll come off as naive, but the point still stands. The more I think the more mysteries I realize this season establishes, the fucking polar bear shows up in like the second episode. It also does all this while beautifully introducing all of these excellent characters, and having a ton of great drama within. Season 2 is really good but to me has a bit of a dip in the middle introducing the whole second group of people. It's a huge undertaking, and they don't do it too well. Am I supposed to like Ana Lucia? Genuinely, am I? She's so fucking hateable I want to punch her stupid fucking face. She feels that she never knows how to think properly in a tense situation, but as long as she has a gun she can wave it around and then she can feel safe and run from having to think. I don't need her to have a bad-to-good arc to feel justified in her existence, but I do think that she needs her existence to be justified and Michael shoots her before she can be. Regardless, the point is there's a bit of a dip with the whole plot of them capturing Sawyer and whoever else and Eko's flashbacks and all that. Though, it's not egregious, it's just not at that peak level of gripping that S1 maintains pretty much the whole way through.
Okay tangent on flashbacks
This was originally at the end of the "best season" segment, but it was really long so I made it separate.
A lot of the flashbacks are a little boring to me honestly. Boring for Lost, at least, probably peak entertainment by like, Grey's Anatomy standards. Most of the flashbacks do feel justified though, just not as entertaining as some of the stuff going on on the island. Sawyer has one of the better uses of flashbacks that I can recall, he has a whole episode where he has a mini arc of deciding to not hunt down a boar. Sounds kinda lame when I say it but I remember liking it. That episode was more about the flashback than the boar, so it makes sense. While we're on this, I gotta mention it, Sun and Jin. I haven't done the math, but someone should, because I really believe that Sun and Jin literally have at least half of the flashbacks in the show. And, like, I just don't care anymore. I pay attention to them, and like, different stuff happens in them every time, but I still feel like I've learned nothing. It's just an extended cut of the first flashbacks we got of them. It's really odd to me. Sun's dad is an ass and so is Jin. Is there something I'm missing? Is this just me, or is this like a recognized complaint? I also don't know if I'm supposed to like Jin. I guess kind of not. He's a nice guy but is also very traditional in a toxic way. And, I guess the whole racism thing was like a fake out? It's just weird to me to throw in a fake out that Jin is racist when he still has very traditional beliefs that are harmful. You'll be watching Lost, wondering what's going on, and then, BAM! Sun and Jin flashbacks. Like, why? The episode isn't even related sometimes. Maybe I'm missing a beautiful and emotional arc within these flashbacks but I just don't see it.
Best episode:
It's interesting, but not a lot of specific episodes have stood out to me among the crowd, it's just moments. Like, any really good episode is gonna have one right after it that expands on it. Also, in binging, all of these episodes blend together to me. That being said, "Greatest Hits (S3 Ep21)" stood out to me as really fucking good. Incredibly emotional episode, and he doesn't even die in it yet. I talked about it earlier in this post. I also remember noting "The Man from Tallahassee (S3 Ep13)" when I watched it, though now I don't remember anything of what part of the story specifically it is.
Worst episode:
There are a lot of contenders for this one actually. Not because there are a lot of bad episodes, but because the episodes are so consistently good that any one that's just kinda okay ends up being a contender for the worst. Two of the biggest to me are "Stranger in a Strange Land (S3 Ep9)" and "The Economist (S4 Ep3)." The former because it's a really strange side story that is very uninteresting and unnecessary and the latter because it is exceptionally boring. I'm actually going to pick "The Economist" on this one.
Season 4 has a really slow start coming off of "Through the Looking Glass." I know they get off the island, all this little shit about what goes down in between is just really uninteresting. It's not all about what ends up happening, but like, what is there to care about? "Oh, they're gonna leave in the helicopter. Oh, Locke and the gang are walking around. Oh, Sayid's golfing? What the fuck is the point of all this? Sayid killed someone (over the course of 20 minutes btw) and now he's sad. Okay...?" We do get a crazy reveal at the end, but I dunno, all the drama around the rescue team is just completely uninteresting to me, and all the Sayid assassin bits are also uninteresting. If I was watching as it aired, I'd honestly have a bit of a tough time tuning in every week at this point. I don't like talking bad about the show like this, but S4 is picking up the pace and we're getting back to the mysteries so it's all good.
Best character:
Tons of contenders. Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Locke, Desmond...
Locke is great, but he's being really vague right now and I feel like I have to figure out what's going on before I give even a partial opinion on him.
Jack is great. I want this guy to lead my group of plane crash survivors. Even as a viewer he makes me feel safe, just a nice dude I'd like to meet.
Desmond is great right now but I feel he'll get better so I'll have to decide on him later.
Sawyer. Sawyer is best. He's got a sob story, but a good one. I really appreciate how his development isn't handled so simply where he just becomes perfect after realizing his past mistakes. He's still complex and makes poor decisions, but he's growing and he knows that. Sometimes he hates himself for growing, he feels like he's rejecting his true self by changing, but I think ultimately, deep down, he knows that it's good and he wants to be good. He's my pick right now.
Worst character:
I dunno, Ana Lucia I guess. She stands out to me as obnoxious and unnecessary, but I don't know if she's awful, just annoying. No character ruins the show or anything so I guess her. If not then maybe the guy from "Exposé" I dunno.
Well, I guess that's it. Absolutely huge post, but I have a lot of thoughts I guess. My two final predictions are that Juliet will always have that weird look on her face and that end credits theme will always be bangin'. Until next time I guess, that'll probably be when I'm done.